Authors:
Democracy is for everybody, not just a majority - this book explains the basis of a more consensual politics
Advocates more accurate voting methodologies beyond the simplistic majority rule
Shows how democracy is still evolving, e.g. through the use of computer applications
Outlines how consensual voting procedures can play a vital part in any peace process
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (11 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Decision-Making
-
Front Matter
-
-
Elections
-
Front Matter
-
-
The Art of Governance
-
Front Matter
-
-
Back Matter
About this book
Reviews
“It is a thesis and its wide-ranging and informative overview of various forms of democratic mechanism is conducted in light of this thesis. … author clearly delights in expounding his thesis and he retains the attention of the reader throughout with engaging insights and entertaining asides. … Appendices are informative and thought-provoking and make an essential contribution to the book, further demonstrating that the author’s thesis is based on an impressively wide historical and geographical scope of knowledge on the topic.” (Katy Hayward, Representation, Vol. 51 (2), 2015)
“Peter Emerson’s book covers a range of very important issues that stretch from the theory of democracy, across decision-making procedures, to electoral systems. Hence, the book is of extreme importance for students of these areas of political science. … book is worth reading and studying. Emerson’s work is both academic treatise and ‘policy paper’ advocating new voting procedures that are very different from those commonly used and that would be highly likely to have far reaching consequences for democratic polities.” (Miloš Brunclík, Central European Political Studies Review, cepsr.com, Vol. XV (4), 2013)
“It is a handbook on how to organise democracy in different ways. Emerson describes in different kinds of electoral and governmental systems, explains how each works in practice and weighs the pros and cons of each. The result is thought-provoking guide to what democracy actually means and how best it can be achieved.” (Books Ireland, October, 2012)
Authors and Affiliations
-
The de Borda Institute, Belfast, United Kingdom
Peter Emerson
About the author
Peter Emerson is the director of the de Borda Institute, an NGO which promotes the use of inclusive voting procedures, especially in conflict zones. The child of a Southern Irish Protestant father and a Northern English Catholic mother, he has been based in Belfast for the last thirty five years. As part of this work, he has travelled extensively, observing several elections for the osce, and his latest deployment was as a translator for the eu Monitoring Mission for South Ossetia. In between such duties, he has lectured in countless universities and other institutes, throughout Europe, in East and Southern Africa, and across the United States. Since 1990 has published extensively on consesus politics in newspapers and books.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Defining Democracy
Book Subtitle: Voting Procedures in Decision-Making, Elections and Governance
Authors: Peter Emerson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20904-8
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-20903-1Published: 07 December 2011
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-44568-2Published: 01 March 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-20904-8Published: 03 December 2011
Edition Number: 2
Number of Pages: XXVIII, 192
Topics: Political Science, Public Economics